The longboarders are worried, has Hop gone mainstream? Is the Hopshop selling out to street skating?

We are not selling out but we are expanding our range!

We have renovated the shop over the holidays and put up a big street and vert section. The warehouse ramps have been sold and replaced with glass cabinets. One of our regulars was worried we were going down the stale, vanilla corporate road like a Skooter HQ mall store … NEVER.

We are still a chill place to hang out, get good advice and watch skate videos. We are just expanding the  range.

Why
The Hopshop is in St Leonards, 5km from Sydney city, the biggest city in Australia.  Our shop is located in the middle of three skateparks – Lane Cove, Chatswood and Neutral Bay. However, there is no dedicated skate shop in the area, except the Hopshop! We have a few surf shops that have a skate section but no real skate shop. So the word is out, there is a new skate shop in town. One skater tells another. They find the shop. The few street skaters has become the many, demanding product and service. So we have listened and are adding mainstream skateboarding products to our shelves. Those Powell SPF wheels look tiny next to inHeats .

The reaction
The response from distributors has been positive. Most of them, and their representatives,  dont believe there is a skateshop in St Leonards. Imagine that. If I was a distributor and my sales rep did not know there was a 90 square metre retail skateshop in their territory, I’d fire them.
We still get distributors refusing to deal with us, which is hysterically funny. For anyone not in the industry, this is how the skateshop/distributor dance works. First you have to find them, they have a bad or no website, missing links, misspelt urls, or no contact details on their website. You find them, call them, so you can convince them to let you sell their product. Some dont return calls, or emails, just ignore you. I dont know the rationale behind this strategy. Keeping their brands exclusive? Protecting a nearby surf shop? Scared you might put it online? (psst dont tell skaters about internet) Protecting online US skate shops?
So who has been difficult? Lush Productions is number one. They sell Independent Trucks, which I have on my pool deck, so I would like to carry them in the shop. Sometimes you feel these distributors think they are going to hurt your business if you dont get their brand. Lush, here is a reality check. Most skaters dont ask for Independent Trucks, seems like their poor distribution strategy is working. We get asked for Theeve, Ace, Thunder, Ruckus, Tensor, and Destructo. You’ll see all these good brands in the hopshop soon. Looks like I’m going to have change truck brands on my pool deck, those Ace trucks look nice. A better independent truck you say? I heard about it on the internet, shhh, dont tell the kids.

This week’s challenge
Want to know what it is like to have a skateshop? Try Hop’s “find this distributor” challenge.
Your challenge this week is to search for the Lush website, and then only using their website find out how to contact them.

Rant over, I feel better now. I’m going to go try these Theeve trucks at Balmoral.